Can you imagine how difficult eating would be if your tooth roots weren't firmly attached to your jawbone? Every time you chomped on a raw carrot or attempted to thoroughly chew a bite of steak, your teeth would slip and slide, irritating your gums. Unfortunately, slipping can be a problem when you wear removable dentures. Although the dentures can easily handle soft foods, eating hard foods can be a problem because the restorations only rest against your gums and aren't connected to your jaw.

Dental implants replace your missing tooth roots. The tiny titanium implants are placed in your jawbone during minor oral surgery. Once in place, implants bond to the bone, offering a secure, stable foundation for the dentures that will be attached to them. Bonding generally takes can take up to six months, although the process can vary from person to person.

How many dental implants will I need?

Traditionally, six to eight implants were needed to support an upper or lower implant-supported denture. When you opt for All-On-4 implants, only four implants will be needed to firmly anchor an upper or lower denture.

What benefits does All-On-4 offer?

Replacing missing teeth with All-On-4 offers several important advantages, including:

Better Jaw Strength: Tooth roots provide needed stimulation needed to keep your jawbone strong. Without them, the bone begins to shrink. Although the problem can occur no matter how many teeth you've lost, losing all of the teeth in your upper or lower jaw can lead to more rapid changes. Your All-On-4 implants constantly press on the jawbone and help to reduce bone resorption.

Convenience: In most cases, all four implants can be placed in your jawbone in just one visit.

Dental implants offer patients with missing teeth a convenient method for replacing those teeth. Dental implants look very much like natural teeth and function just like them, as well. Once installed, they become a permanent fixture in your mouth and no one will ever know you were once missing any teeth. Dr. Richard Hamaty in Yorba Linda, CA can evaluate your situation and help you determine if dental implants might be right for you.

Advantages of Dental Implants in Yorba Linda

Dental implants offer many benefits to patients who are missing teeth. In addition to replacing those teeth, patients who receive dental implants often report feeling a boost in their confidence and self-esteem. Getting dental implants is like getting their smile back, so to speak.

Dental implants can also make it easier to eat and speak. Missing teeth can make it difficult to chew and can affect speech by altering tongue placement when speaking. Since dental implants literally fill in the gaps where teeth were previously missing, tooth functioning can return to normal. With the implants in place, there is less strain on the remaining natural teeth and functions like eating and speaking become easier, once again.

There are other advantages associated with dental implants, as well. They are fused to the jawbone so that they become permanent, which makes them extremely durable. Additionally, since dental implants are fixed in place, they will not fall out of place or loosen over time. This makes them an appealing option over dentures, which require adhesives to be temporarily set in place.

Dental implants can do so many positive things for you. To find out if dental implants are right for you, schedule an appointment with Dr. Hamaty, your Yorba Linda dental implants expert. To arrange an appointment, call his office at (714) 779-1313.